I pondered writing this rant for a couple of weeks, but in the interest of maybe helping someone else avoid these pitfalls, I decided to tell my story. In a earlier post I told how I bought New tires online for my Motor Home. The problem was getting them installed along with Borg Dually Valves and Balancing Beads. I went to a big O store a couple of miles from where I live. I had used this store in the past to install tires that were bought online. This time when I went there to make a appointment To dismount and mount new tires. Install Dually Valves, Balancing Beads in the rear duals, and spin balance the new front tires. I found that they had a new manager and a completely different crew. Before making the appointment I questioned the salesman and asked if he and the workers had ever installed Dually Valves which require a certain procedure to do it correctly. The procedure needs to be followed to the letter and the same for the balancing beads. I set up an appointment after being assured that they knew how to do everything correctly. I arrived at 7:00 am for my appointment the following Monday and here is what happened.

I removed the wheel covers before leaving home so that they would not damage them trying to use a impact wrench to remove the wheel cover bolts. I have had wheel covers on motor homes damaged by people who did not know how to remove them. (it was a good thing I removed them before hand). I took the new tires in the motor home along with the new Dually Valves and the balancing beads. I also had copied a full set of instructions along with pictures that I took with me just in case. Now the fun begins.

The first problem was they did not know how to jack up the motor home. It took 4 (Tire Monkeys) guys and 3 jacks and an hour later they finally had the rear wheels jacked up. They could brake the Tire beads with their machine, but could not dismount the tires from the rims. I told them you will have to do it manually with tire irons. They tried to do it with a couple of 12 inch tire irons, after 30 minutes I told them to get a couple of 30 inch tire irons. They finally got the tires dismounted. I showed them the instructions and pictures of how to install the dually valves as they have to be centered. Before mounting the tires. One rim on top of the other. This they did not do and they would not listen to what I had to say.

I’ve used Samson Tires on the last 2 motor homes that I owned. My present motor home came with Samsons and they are 9 1/2 years old. It is time to get new ones. When checking for tires I found that the Samsons are no longer available in my area and buying them online is to expensive with shipping. So I was in the market for a good set of tires at a reasonable price. I had heard good things about Sailun Tires so I started looking when I found a add from Walmart on the internet for Sailun 245/70R19.5 tires with free shipping. I decided to give them a try. I’ve had good luck buying from Walmart online in the past and have been happy with my purchases. Here are the tires that I bought.

What a Bargain. 16 Ply 5 Rib all season tires at a great price. Every place that I checked was $40 to $60 Higher and no free shipping. I Ordered the tires on Wednesday and got them today Friday. All 6 of them came via FedX. The date code on all tires was Jan 2019 (0119) first week of 2019
While I was at it I decided to have Borg Dually Valves installed for the rear dual tires so I could use my TPMS (tire pressure monitoring System). The RV shops and stores want $120 to $140 for the kit. I found the kit that I needed on Ebay for $90 including shipping.

For the rear tires I also wanted Balancing Beads instead of the lead weights. I have had good luck using them in the past on trailers and motor homes. So I went searching for the same kind that I used the last time. I found them on Ebay, again at a great price for $29.

I found a tire shop that will mount and dismount the tires and install the dually valves for $25 a tire. So lets see what all of this is costing me.
The price of the tires delivered including Tax.
Tires $1,057.29
Dually Valves $90.00
Balancing Beads $29.00
Labor tire install $150.00
Total cost $1,325.29
Not bad for 6 tires including Dually Valves and Balancing beads. Should have everything installed by next Wednesday.

Well I got thinking that the Coffee Cup Holder & Equipment Panel was sitting a bit to high and need Redoing. I also wanted something to Read my chassis Voltage and A couple of USB charging ports and a extra 12 socket. Plenty of room on the Panel so I redesigned it. Below are pictures of the work with explanations.
Mel

This is the way it looked before I updated. You can see it sets a little bit High and is level with the window.

This is the way it is now It sets down lower and has a panel added with a 12 V socket, USB Charging Ports, Lighted ON and Off switch, and a Voltage Monitor for the chassis battery.

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I got tired of Getting down on my hands and knees to look in the storage compartments under the slide It made no difference if the slide was in or out the struts on the door would only let the doors come up 90 degrees or half way. I guess they figured that we might open a slide with the compartment door open. What a Pain in the Patootie.

as you can see even with the slide in it was a real pain to check the house batteries or the oil in the generator or to even put something heavy in a compartment under the slide. The Struts would not allow you to raise the compartment door up more than 90 deg or half way.

So I removed the struts from the compartment doors to the battery compartment and the generator compartment.

I then Bought a packet of “Baggage Door Catch Latch Clips” to hold the baggage doors up on the ones I removed the struts from.

I then installed the clips on the side of the motor home to hold the baggage doors up when I have to access the the baggae compartment when the slide is in.

Now I can stand up and get in the Generator compartment to check the oil or perform maintenance. Same with the battery compartment. I just have to be sure the compartment doors are closed before extending the slide. I will do the same to the other 2 compartments under the slide. Since the clips are plastic and if the slide happens to be operated while the baggage door is up, the plastic clip will break or slide off of the edge letting the door go down and close. No damage done.
Mel

While traveling from Yuma Arizona to my home in Utah Somewhere along the way my speedometer quit working. I used the tack to judge how fast I was going and made it home OK. Now it was time to find out what was wrong. All of the instruments in the instrument cluster were working including the Cruse control, the Odometer, and the tack. since they were all working this told me that the Speedometer head MPH which was not working. had to be bad. So it was now time to remove the speedometer and get it repaired. The speedometer is electronic and is part of the instrument cluster so the whole thing had to be removed as a unit. Continue to read to see how it was removed and pictures.

Last week I took my 2017 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk to the Jeep dealer to have the Flat Tow Kit installed. This is required so that the EPS (electrical power steering) is activated when towing. In the instructions that came with the kit. It states that you have to open the hood and insert a 10 amp mini fuse in a fuse holder mounted next to the power distribution box and to remove the fuse when not towing or parking for several hours or else the battery in the vehicle will be drained and go dead or be run down. What a PITA to have to open the hood and remove a fuse eveytime I stopped or have to insert a fuse again when I am ready to tow. So I decided to Fix that with a switch and a Indicator Lamp. The switch is in series with the fuse coming from the distribution box to the electric power steering or EPS. The indicator lamp lets me know when the switch is in Tow Mode. See Diagram and pix below. This way I can flip a switch instead of having to open the hood and I can tell at a glance if I am in tow mode.

Getting My 2017 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk Ready to tow behind my motor home. The first thing I did was to get a Hopkins Towed Wiring Kit #56208 For the tail and brake lights. This kit plugs directly into the OEM Wiring System on the jeep No wires to cut and no diodes to solder. The kit comes with a Built in Diode system to prevent voltage Feed Back. Removing the Tail Lights was as simple and removing 2 screws and running the wires for the passenger tail and stop Lights from the drivers side under the rear bumper to the passenger side. The Wires from the Tail and Stop Lights was run on the drivers side to the front of the jeep where the Umbilical Cable hook up from the motor home will be located. Where possible I ran the wires behind fender wells and under skid plates using a 3/8th split Wire conduit on exposed wires the conduit is flame retardant. the only hard part was laying on my back to run the wire underneath the jeep. Next was to install The Blue Ox Base Plates. I Have a Blue Ox Aladdin BX4325 7500 Lb Tow Bar.